Vengeance of a Time Lord
by Gundam Kaiser
Summary: Before going to Tokyo-3, Shinji wanders into a thrift store and finds an old pocketwatch. Upon opening it, a clever young Time Lord regains the memories of his past few lives, and vows revenge on SEELE and Gendo for the horrors of Second Impact.
1. Prologue: Rebirth

**Vengeance of a Time Lord**

_Prologue: Rebirth_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the classic anime **_**Neon Genesis Evangelion**_**, nor do I own the British television icon **_**Doctor Who**_**. Those are the respective property of Gainax and…. well, someone in Britain, I suppose.**

**Summary: Doctor Who/Evangelion crossover.**

**Rating: T for now, may raise to M later.**

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><p>Just the day before, Shinji had gotten a card in the mail from his father, essentially calling him to Tokyo-3 for some obscure reason.<p>

If it had at least had the word "please" somewhere on it, Shinji would've obeyed without hesitation, but as things were, there was no semblance of politeness to be found.

Still, he figured that if he didn't come, Gendo would probably send someone after him and drag Shinji over there by force.

So, torn between a futile show of defiance and timid compliance, Shinji was taking a walk through Yokohama-4 in an effort to gather his thoughts. As he neared a little-known pawn shop, the young Ikari glanced through the window out of habit, and froze.

There, on the counter, was a silver pocketwatch with somewhat intricate engravings upon its lid, and it was well within his price range. Shinji had needed a new timepiece for weeks and had been meaning to get a wristwatch, but this called out to him… Shinji would've compared it to a long-lost friend, but he'd never had any friends – long-lost or otherwise – and so it would probably not have been accurate.

But getting back to the topic at hand, Shinji felt compelled to enter the small store and picked up the watch, examining it for a few moments. "Excuse me, sir, but I'd like to buy this watch…"

The clerk, a young girl who sat chewing gum while reading a trashy romance novel, glanced up at him and said, "That's more of a paperweight than a watch, on account of nobody ever being able to open it and see the clock, but the price is on the tag. It's your money and what you spend it on is no business of mine."

Slightly miffed at the clerk's rude demeanor, Shinji nevertheless produced an adequate amount of money and left it on the counter, deciding that sticking around this person wasn't worth collecting his meager change.

Once he was back on the street, Shinji decided to check out whether that girl had been lying about whether his new watch couldn't be opened.

Turning it over a few times until he found a promising-looking button, Shinji depressed it and to his surprise, the watch flew open instantly, revealing an analog face reminiscent of the British clocktower, Big Ben.

And then, a yellow-orange radiance exploded in his face.

The young man gripped his head and fell to his knees as a series of memories assaulted him – those that Shinji Ikari had repressed, and those of other people that Shinji still somehow recognized as also being himself.

For two minutes, Shinji convulsed on the sidewalk, with nary a soul around to witness the miracle taking place.

He remembered traveling across time and space for decades, seeking adventure and knowledge.

He remembered the experiences, loves, hates, and et ceteras of five people before him, the death of each leading directly into the regeneration of the next.

And then, he remembered Antarctica, fifteen years ago, he'd been poking around somewhere that, in retrospect, he shouldn't have, and Second Impact had devastated his expedition, and with the last of his strength, he'd gotten his daughter Misato into the escape pod, and Gendo Ikari had shown up just the day before and collected the research data which meant that that BASTARD had KNOWN what was going to happen, or at least had a good hypothesis, and somehow Second Impact had scattered his still-Regenerating biomass across the planet and was somehow absorbed into a pregnant woman and then Yui Ikari had, around a year later, given birth to Shinji Ikari, which was who he was now…

And then, the human Shinji Ikari was no more.

And in his place, there knelt a Time Lord reborn.

Eyes filled with hate and sorrow, Shinji said, "Those bastards killed me, made my daughter an orphan, and fucked over the rest of the planet, too. The Human Instrumentality Committee, Gendo Ikari, and everyone who worked alongside them that KNEW about Second Impact…. I swear, I'm going to kill every single last one of you, even if I have to cycle through every one of my remaining Regenerations to do it. But not yet. No, for the moment I have to play things by ear, fully assess the situation. But you can rest assured, girls. I _will_ avenge you, Akane. And Misato… I know I'm probably decades too late, but I WILL find a way to set things right."

But first, the Time Lord reflected, he needed to arrive in Tokyo-3, which was where the action was going to be. But even before that, however, there was a grievous error in his apparel that he had to correct. So he went to the first clothing store he could find, and got a red necktie. Yes, he would wear a necktie from now on. Neckties were cool.

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><p><em><strong>And so, the revived Time Lord made his preparations…<strong>_

_Tokyo-3, a few days later…_

And so it was that one Shinji Ikari, Time Lord, stepped off the train and entered Tokyo-3 armed with a red necktie, black longcoat, excellent running shoes, dark blue gloves, and a cold glare. **(1)**

Once the fighter jets and cruise missiles began flying at dangerously low altitudes around him, the city had become a war zone.

And in the midst of this chaos, the Time Lord just chuckled.

"Man, _this_ brings back memories. I'd normally start reminiscing about now, but I need to stay in the present. I can tell myself about my past all I like once the explosions come to a halt."

And as a blue sports car performed a U-turn and screeched to a halt right in front of him, Shinji smiled. Even though he was in a different body and half her age, and she wouldn't realize it for a long while, the Time Lord was about to reunite with his daughter for the first time in over a decade.

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><p><strong>AN: Well, there you have it. The prologue chapter of my _Evangelion_/_Doctor Who_ crossover. No, he's NOT the Doctor or the Master, Shinji is a different Time Lord from either of them. Just dispelling that right now.**

**(1) Shinji's current attire is based on Will Eisner's **_**The Spirit**_**.**

**Also, Shinji needs a name. Not for himself, but as a Time Lord. The only ones I know of are Doctor, Master, and Rassilon, all of which are taken. If anyone has a good idea for Shinji's name as a Time Lord, feel free to tell me in a review.**


	2. Knight in Purple Armor

**Vengeance of a Time Lord**

_Knight in Purple Armor_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the classic anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor do I own the British television icon Doctor Who. Those are the respective property of Gainax and…. well, someone in Britain, I suppose.**

**I have now chosen a name for TimeLord!Shinji, or rather, a moniker for him. After all, 'The Doctor' and 'The Master' don't really count as proper names, do they? Identifiers certainly, but not names. And so, like the Doctor, Shinji will reveal the name by which he is identified as a Time Lord, but not his proper Gallifreyan name. Also, expect canon Who characters to appear, even if in an unexpected guise…**

**Summary: Doctor Who/Evangelion crossover.**

**Rating: T for now, may raise to M later.**

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><p><em><strong>As the Time Lord arrived in Tokyo-3…<strong>_

Once the fighter jets and cruise missiles began flying at dangerously low altitudes around him, the city had become a war zone.

And in the midst of this chaos, the Time Lord just chuckled.

"Man, this brings back memories. I'd normally start reminiscing about now, but I need to stay in the present. I can tell myself about my past all I like once the explosions come to a halt."

And as a blue sports car performed a U-turn and screeched to a halt right in front of him, Shinji smiled. Even though he was in a different body and half her age, and she wouldn't realize it for a long while, the Time Lord was about to reunite with his daughter for the first time in over a decade.

Quickly opening the door, Shinji hopped in the blue auto and, with a grin at complete odds with the situation around him, cheerily said, "Heya honey, how's it hanging?"

With a double-take, Misato asked, "Did you just say what I think you did?"

Grinning, the Time Lord replied, "That depends on whether or not what you think I said is actually what I said, but presuming they're the same, then yes. But given the picture you sent me, did you really expect me to greet you any other way?"

While it felt extremely odd and more than a little bit sick hitting on a woman who was (sort of) his daughter, her reaction was amusing enough to let it slide, just this once.

Stowing away that part of him for a more appropriate situation, however, Shinji turned grim as he said, "All silliness aside, however, it's good to see you –" here, he barely kept himself from saying 'again' – "Misato. Now then, I understand that Rokubungi wants me for something, but he failed to tell me precisely what that might –"

Confused, Misato asked, "Wait a minute, Rokubungi? Who the hell's that?"

Equally confused by her lack of recognition, he replied, "You know, your boss…. Gendo the jerkass."

Eyes narrowing, Misato said, "Er, your father's surname is Ikari. I'm kind of surprised you didn't know that."

_Damn it, I'm so used to calling him Rokubungi that it's practically instinct. Okay, quickly, how can I cover this? Shame I can't get out of it with some of that slightly psychic paper that I left in my TARDIS… which, now that I think about it, is probably still in Disney World. Note to self – call one of my notably few time-travelling friends still alive and ask him or her to bring me my TARDIS, it's the grey camper with black flames on it…_

"Of course I know his name! But after Mom died and he abandoned me, I don't consider him family anymore, and I don't want to associate my name with his any more than I have to. And since Shinji Rokubungi sounds too damn weird – and it still connects me with him – I renounced his name as an Ikari and therefore I call him Gendo Rokubungi the jerkass."

Eyes widening a little, Misato said, "Wow, you must really hate your father, huh? I hated my dad too, but he died saving my life in the Second Impact, so I guess I keep his name out of respect… and because I've been using it since I was born and changing it's too big of a hassle."

Accepting that reply, an awkward silence settled between the passengers, which neither of them knew how to break.

Shinji first considered turning on the radio, but opted not to, since Misato needed to focus a bit more on the road.

Even if he had been rather distant as a father in his past life, he reflected, Shinji really should have taught her how to drive a damn car. Cybermen, Silurians, the occasional Dalek – hell, even the godforsaken Weeping Angels had never scared him quite as badly as his late wife's driving.

_But then again, dear Akane's cooking was far, FAR worse. I remember on one of our first dates and she tried to make dinner, I actually died and had to Regenerate from it. In all fairness, though, we later found out that the vegetables she'd used in preparing the meal had long since spoiled, and when she made the same dish some time later with fresh materials, I only passed out for a couple of minutes…_

Then, as he realized that Misato had probably learned how to cook from Akane as well, he came to the rapid conclusion that if they wound up living together again – and something told him they would – then he would cook every meal served in the household.

A faint smile upon his lips, the Time Lord shook his head as he realized how much Misato was likely to have taken after her mother. Akane had, without a doubt, been the most domestically dangerous companion he'd ever had, but for all her horrendous cooking and inability to see a mess for a mess and her terrible driving, he had also never known a human as insightful, courageous, confident, and delightfully mad, either.

As Misato saw the smile and faraway look in his eyes, she asked, "Hey, what are you thinking about?"

Still somewhat distracted, Shinji replied, "Ah, just thinking about someone I loved, a long time ago. I spent the happiest days in my life with her."

Smiling at the way the young boy sounded like an old man, and at the same time curious about her charge, she asked, "You said loved. Did something happen?"

Without hesitation, Shinji said, "Yes. A miracle occurred. But then, circumstances changed. Something happened with her family. I had to cut off ties with her… it deeply hurt everyone involved, but it was the only action I could do to make anything better. Neither of us were ever the same afterward. In the years following, we'd talk sometimes. Gone was the innocent bliss of younger days, and though the rift was a source of constant pain for us both, she agreed that it was for the best."

It was at this point that the car came screeching to a halt, and Misato stared at Shinji like he'd suddenly gotten ten feet tall.

Shinji was quite familiar with that stare, as his first Regeneration had indeed had him suddenly grow to about ten feet tall.

"Okay, just who the hell are you?"

Confused with her alarm, Shinji tilted his head and was about to ask what she was freaking out over, and then the proverbial light bulb came on, at which point looked down and said, "Damn. I said all that out loud, didn't I?"

Misato's response was to nod gravely.

Sighing, Shinji became thankful that he hadn't buckled his seatbelt, and said, "I wasn't really planning on this until much, much later, under much better circumstances and we were reacquainted with each other, but since I've absentmindedly talked myself into a corner, I haven't much choice."

And with that warning, the Time Lord reborn quickly turned, rose up, and bashed Misato in the forehead with his own, causing a massive transfer of psychic data, as well as giving them both the grandfather of all headaches.

As the wave of inhuman memories hit her, Misato gasped and backed as far away as the seatbelt and car door would allow, wildly pointing at Shinji, yet temporarily rendered mute.

Gently brushing her hand away, Shinji said, "This is gonna suck a lot, but now you need the specifics," and then gave her a second psychic headbutt, straining each consciousness near the point of breaking, the mental backlash forcing him against the far side of the car.

Misato finally found her voice again as she angrily accused, "You, you, you… you BASTARD! I WANT SOME ANSWERS OUT OF YOU, FATHER!"

Wincing, Shinji sighed as the memories of his previous life took over and said, "You have every right to hate me, Misato, to want me dead, but I'm not the monster you think I am."

"You're a goddamn alien for crying out loud!"

"Yes, and that makes you half-alien. But before you reach for the Glock under your seat, would you at least hear me out?"

Seething, Misato said, "You have about five minutes to explain yourself, old man."

Trying in vain to lighten the mood a bit, Shinji said, "You call me an old man, yet I'm only half your age. What does that say about you? Now now, simmer down, I'm just trying to help you calm down a little. Now then, you're wondering why, if I claim to have loved you and Akane so much, I left you, right? I presume that from the mass of memories I showed you, you know the kind of life I lived – especially when I had Akane with me?"

Misato said, "Yeah. Running around the universe in a time machine, kicking ass and saving the day wherever it needed saving, fighting monsters and having the time of your lives."

Beginning to cry, Misato continued, "Damn it father, the way her face lit up in those days… as far back as I can remember, I never saw her that damn happy. If you knew how she would feel, then how the hell could you just up and abandon her like you did after I came along?"

Frowning, Shinji said, "You, your mother and I were all still together for a couple of years after you were born, but you're missing the point. All those wondrous, exciting adventures your mother and I went on? All of them were also incredibly dangerous. I can't even begin to count the number of times one of us had to rescue the other from the Cybermen, or the Silurians, or those couple of times with the Atraxi, or the Necrons, or the Heartless, or the N.O.L., or Nyarlathotep, or…. Well, the list could go on for another ten minutes and I'd still only be half done, but back to the point. It's one thing to risk your life being with the person you love, Misato. And we dearly loved each other more than you can imagine, but then you were born. We had stopped adventuring while Akane was pregnant with you, and I stayed here while she was recovering from the birth."

Shaking his head a bit, Shinji said, "You really were a handful, even from the day you were born. But back to the story. After a good while – you were around two, at this point – your mother asked when I planned on taking the TARDIS out of storage. It was also, ironically, on that day that one of my Time Lord enemies – a cold-blooded murderer known as the Assassin – attacked me… by going after you and your mother. I was able to stop him, as you can tell, but just barely. That burn scar on Akane's right shoulder blade that never seemed to go away? That's because I wasn't fast or clever enough to stop him in time. That was when it finally sunk in that if I stayed with you two, there was the very real chance that I could lose you.

"Even after that, Akane travelling with me alone would've been different – she was a grown-up, more than capable of taking care of herself a good ninety percent of the time. But we loved you, and there was no way that we would be able to bring ourselves to leave you behind, even for a moment. Which meant that all those stupid, lethal, impossibly dangerous adventures would have killed you in a heartbeat, and that was a risk neither of us could take. Even though separating hurt all three of us, I didn't want you – my first and only child – to have the dangerous life that I had. I wanted you to be safe. Having to leave you and your mother was the most painful decision I ever made, and there are many days I wondered what might have been, but I don't regret it. Keeping you out of danger was worth more than my happiness, even if you hated me for it. But even though I was hardly ever there, it isn't entirely fair to say I abandoned you. Though I couldn't be with you personally, I still did whatever I could to take care of you two. Whenever you got sick, I paid the hospital bills. Had I not gotten killed in Second Impact, I would have at least offered to pay your way to college anywhere you liked, or for any wedding you wanted, or both. I know that I failed to be there for you, but please understand that I tried my hardest to do what I thought was best for you."

By this point, the Time Lord had removed all inflection from his voice, and his eyes were covered in shadow, though still some tears fell. Misato was crying more openly, and couldn't help but hug Shinji.

Normally, she wouldn't have believed a boy half her age with a story like that, but given that he knew things that only her father, Suzaku Katsuragi could have known, and she had been bombarded with the memories to prove it, she knew it was the truth.

Somehow, her father was a hyper-advanced alien who had been reborn as her boss's son, Shinji Ikari.

This raised an interesting question, though, and it had to be asked – "From what I saw of your Regeneration ability, you just come back in a different body with a different perception when you die, but during Second Impact, you were instead completely re-birthed in the most literal way over a year later. How the hell is that?"

Shinji shrugged and said, "Even Time Lords don't know everything, and it's something that too many of us seem to keep forgetting. Nobody had ever encountered anything like the being known as Adam, and the energy phenomenon he produced had never been recorded. It's kind of like if you'd never heard of H.P. Lovecraft novel before, much less read his work, and then Cthulhu shows up on your doorstep asking for a cup of sugar, you loan him your sugar along with some biscuits as a neighborly gift, and after he leaves you suddenly realize that your dining room no longer conforms to the laws of physics as you know them. You have absolutely no idea what the bloody hell just happened."

Oddly enough, Misato was able to wrap her mind around that example, and found that while a tad complicated, it adequately described her father's point of view.

Then, tilting his head a bit, Shinji said, "If I had to venture a guess, though, I'd wager that Adam's spacey-wacey field scattered my still-Regenerating molecules across the planet while locking my soul into a state of quantum flux until it just happened to land inside Yui Ikari's recently impregnated womb, and the rest of my Time Lord molecules caught up to it over the next few months, waiting for me to find my fobwatch and get my memories back. That, or some future version of myself arranged it because it had already happened. Can't rule out that possibility either."

After the pair had both regained their composure, Misato resumed driving to NERV. As they approached, Shinji asked again what his purpose was.

"Ah, well, I haven't really been told all that much either."

Frowning, Shinji settled back into his seat and said, "In that case, let's find the hell out, shall we?"

And so, resuming the drive to NERV, it was only a matter of time until the pair arrived at their destination.

As Misato pulled out a map of where she needed to go, she mused, "This thing is confusing as hell, but I can still make sense of it. Weird."

Smiling a little, Shinji said, "Time Lord genetics at work. Your brain is wired differently from everyone else's, which allows you to make intuitive leaps that other people can't, and you also tend to grasp new concepts more easily than those around you."

Blinking a moment, Misato paused for a moment before she said, "Yeah, you have a point there. I guess you've been helping me out more than I ever realized."

Lapsing into a comfortable silence, the pair strode to the area where Shinji was needed, encountering one Ritsuko Akagi on the way.

"So you're the Third Child, I take it? Pleasure to meet you Shinji, I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head of Project E."

Face growing hard as unpleasant memories surfaced, Shinji asked, "And what, pray tell, is Project E?"

As the group got on an elevating platform, Ritsuko smiled a bit and replied, "Well, since you're here to attempt piloting it, I suppose I can go ahead and tell you. That creature out there is what's called an Angel, and we at NERV have created the only weapon that can defeat them – the artificial human, the EVANGELION! A gigantic machine that works by synchronization and is controlled directly by the pilot's mind!"

Watching as Ritsuko beamed in pride at her admittedly impressive work, Shinji paused a few moments before asking, "What's its name?"

Mentally stumbling, Ritsuko could only tilt her head in confusion. "I just told you, it's called the Evangelion."

Shaking his head in exasperation, Shinji explained, "You specifically called it an artificial human, Ms. Akagi. A very large part of what makes a human a human is its sense of identity – the ability to distinguish oneself from others who are similar, the ability to recognize yourself as separate from those around you. And the most common way for humans to distinguish themselves from each other is with some sort of moniker; like, say, The Hero, The Lancer, The Big Bad, The Dragon, The Chessmaster, The Gunslinger, The Master, The Knight, etc.; or, in more advanced societies with more than one person per profession/whatever, with names; i.e. John Smith, Taro Tanaka, Teddy Roosevelt, Gwen Stacy, Spring-Heeled Jack, Rip Van Winkle, Chuck Norris, what have you.

"On top of that, you said that the Evangelion works by synchronizing with the pilot and is controlled by thought. So I not only ask again what its name is, but on that note, what you've told me implies that if it moves when I think at it, then it will think back at me. If I'm supposed to pilot this 'Evangelion', then it's only fair that I know as much about it as possible."

Ritsuko's expression was one that just screamed 'oh crap', as if she had only just remembered the source of the young man's genetic material. Despite his relative amiable nature thus far, he was as not as naïve as she would have expected, and indeed had a fair degree of his father's brutal intelligence.

Nervously scratching the back of her head, Ritsuko desperately sought a good explanation that would still allow for the Commander's scenario to go as intended. It wasn't that she really loved him, but the Commander had made it clear that she could be replaced. Not only was Ritsuko fond of not being dead, but she also knew that if she failed him, her replacement would be her assistant Maya.

Ritsuko managed to force her attention away from her close friend and back to the matter at hand, before mentally snapping her fingers in confidence as she replied, "I refer to the Evangelions as artificial humans because they are _anatomically_ based on us, which would make the synchronization process more efficient. You control it the way you would control yourself, and the closer its shape is to yours, the more effective that would be, you know? Anyway, what was your other question – ah, yes, you were wondering about its name, I think. While you were largely accurate with regards to actual humans about nature/whatever-that-was-because-I'm-a-geneticist-not-a-philosopher, I should explain that the Evangelions are _psychologically_ based more on wild animals, rather than human beings. The one you're supposed to pilot is Unit-01, which has more of an… ursine mentality. You know… mama bear, and all that stuff?"

Shinji as a Time Lord could easily tell that she was bullshitting him, but nevertheless shook his head with a smile and said, "Ritsuko, you seem to me like a college student eager for the professor's approval and yet terrified of making even the slightest miscalculation in front of him."

Misato, trying to keep him from slipping up with his true nature twice in the same day, asked, "And tell me, Shinji-kun, how exactly would you know that?"

Having actually planned out a response this time, Shinji said, "I was raised near a university, and I met a number of people who exhibit behavior like you just did."

Rolling her eyes, Misato said, "And I suppose that's where you picked up big words like 'exhibit' and 'distinguish' too, right?"

Nodding with a smile, Shinji confirmed, "That's right."

Then, rubbing his hands together with a smile, Shinji continued, "So then, giant aliens outside trying to destroy mankind, you have a weapon of some sort to stop them which requires me specifically to pilot it and save the world, and _oooh_, is that a giant hand?"

Going to the edge of the elevator, Shinji got as close to it as he could without toppling off, grinning from ear to ear.

Turning to Ritsuko after a moment, the Time Lord said, "That Evangelion you were mentioning… it's a giant robot, isn't it?"

Not sure of how the increasingly spastic young man would respond, Ritsuko merely nodded.

Clapping his hands once, Shinji said, "Excellent!"

Ritsuko frowned. This wasn't good, not one bit. Shinji was supposed to be shy, introverted, and for one thing, terrified in order to fit with the Commander's scenario. Trying to salvage what little she could, she supplied, "Er… you do realize that you're going into a warzone against something we have no intel about, and you stand a very real chance of dying, right?"

While Shinji Ikari did indeed have centuries of experience, probably had more raw intellect than anyone else on the planet, and thought of time travel in the same way a normal person thought about their refrigerator, he was still, currently, a fourteen-year-old boy.

"_Hello_, Ms. Akagi! While I _do_ realize that my life is probably in danger, you should realize that teenaged male plus HUMONGOUS MECHA equals INSTANT ENTHUSIASM!"

Whispering in her college roommate's ear, Ritsuko asked, "Was he that weird on the way up?"

Grinning, Misato replied, "You have _no idea_, Ritsky."

The trio continued in a somewhat awkward silence up until the elevator stopped at the top of the cage, where Shinji could see Unit-01's head.

Grinning, Shinji asked, "So then, let's make sure I understand the situation here. You want _me_, a wholly untrained child, to pilot a WMD war machine and fight an enemy you know almost nothing about in order to save the world, right?"

As Ritusko nodded, the slightly demented Time Lord said, "In that case, hell yes I'll pilot. Just get me an instruction manual so I can brush up later, put me in the cockpit, and I'll see about saving the day."

From his vantage point, Gendo Ikari frowned. Shinji had already accepted his role to pilot the Evangelion without coercion, and even worse, he was inexplicably the psychological _inverse_ of what the Commander's intelligence reports had given just five days ago.

Nevertheless, killing the Angel came first. Repairing the deviation from the scenario would be a bitch, but it could still wait until after the immediate crisis was over.

Over the next few minutes, Shinji was herded into the Entry Plug, and once the start-up sequence was finished, Misato shouted out, "Eva launch!" thus officially deploying Evangelion Unit-01 and Shinji Ikari into battle for the first time.

++++++++++  
><em>On the field of battle…<em>

As Unit-01 emerged on the streets of Tokyo-3, the Angel – codenamed Sachiel – immediately took notice and rushed him, not bothering to hold back any of its power.

Sachiel brutally punched Unit-01 in the face five times in quick succession, and then speared it in the stomach with an energy lance before Shinji could retaliate.

As Unit-01 was blasted a good distance away, Sachiel continued its assault, screaming in its incomprehensible language, yet the tone clearly was one of sheer and utter terror.

"**I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away! I'm not useless damnit! I'll be the one to reunite with Father! I'll show them I'm not worthless! I mustn't run away!"**

Shinji, however, even without a TARDIS translation matrix, could somehow understand some of what the Angel was saying.

As Unit-01 got to its feet, Sachiel rushed him again, but this time, Shinji raised his hands quickly enough to intercept the eldritch fists. As the titans grappled, Shinji shouted, "Listen up, Sachiel! You're trying to destroy this world for some reason, and I can't let that happen! If you want to run away, I'll let you live and I'll leave you alone! But if you insist that your pride is more important than your life, then I swear on my honor that I will stop you, even if it takes my last breath!"

At Central Dogma, Maya announced, "Unbelievable! Pilot Ikari's sync ratio is over one-hundred percent!"

Turning sharply, Ritsuko shouted, "That can't be right!"

Lt. Hyuga had already begun running a systems diagnostic, and said, "Diagnostic shows that there are no errors in the MAGI or in our instruments!"

Meanwhile, Shinji continued, "Every man, woman, and child on Earth is depending on me! Their lives rest on MY shoulders! I won't let their trust be in vain!"

Overpowering Sachiel and forcing him back, Shinji subconsciously molded his A.T. Field into a double-edged straightsword and a shield reminiscent of what Christians used in the Crusades, before walking towards Sachiel.

As the Angel of Water continually flung optic blasts and energy spears at Unit-01, Shinji used his A.T. shield to deflect each attack into the upper atmosphere, steadily increasing his speed as he shouted, "I AM THE _SHIELD_ THAT PROTECTS THE JUST! I AM THE _SWORD_ THAT AVENGES THE WEAK! I AM HE WHO DEFENDS THOSE THAT CAN'T DEFEND THEMSELVES! I AM THE PILOT OF EVANGELION UNIT-01!"

All-out running now, Shinji brought up his A.T. sword and deciding that the red sphere on Sachiel's chest looked rather important, stabbed it with all his strength. The focused, localized A.T. Field Shinji was using pierced through Sachiel's like a hot knife through butter, and plunged into the Angel's core, completely shattering it, instantly bring Sachiel to death's door.

"**No! I won't die! Not alone! Arael, Leliel, Ramiel! Please, somebody help me! Please! I don't want to die alone… No! I can't die alone! Lilin monster! Don't let me die alone! DIE WITH ME!"**

Using the last of his strength, Sachiel morphed his body around Unit-01 and overclocked what was left of his core.

Realizing that a colossal explosion was about to take place, Shinji instinctively created two layers of A.T. Field: one to dampen the blast on him, and one to contain it so the city wouldn't get damaged.

And then, Shinji Ikari was in the heart of the Sun.

Moments later, after the glare had died down, the bridge crew at Central Dogma looked on in awe.

Unit-01 was still intact for the most part, even if most of the limb armor had been melted off. Everything else was charred horribly, but not to the point that someone could see Eva's true fance and nature.

Checking the feed from the Entry Plug, Maya barely kept her lunch in her stomach at what she saw.

Much of Pilot Ikari's skin had burned away, and his bare muscles were exposed in places, but between his last second A.T. Field, the LCL dampening properties, and Shinji somehow managing to lower his sync ratio at the last second, he wasn't in any danger of getting killed.

Somehow maintaining a conscious state of mind, Shinji calmly asked, "Any casualties… other than… the enemy? Is… the city…?"

Shaking herself back to reality, Misato replied, "No human casualties. Collateral damage is minimal, and any damaged infrastructure can be repaired in the course of a few days."

Panting, Shinji said, "Good…. That's…. good…"

Straining not to fall asleep just yet, Shinji roared one last declaration to the city of Tokyo-3.

"I HAVE COME TO SERVE AND PROTECT! I WILL STAND FIRM AGAINST THE TIDES OF FATE! CITIZENS OF TOKYO-3! I AM THE KNIGHT, AND I _WILL PROTECT YOU!"_

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you have it. Sorry if this chapter seems a bit rushed or forced, because nearing the end, it kind of was. Anyway, I finally decided on a Time Lord moniker for Shinji – that is to say, The Knight, which may or may not be explained in further depth at a later date.<strong>

**In any case, read and review. Reviews help inspire me to work better and faster. Also, this chapter was a bit long by my standards, but that's because a) there wasn't enough material to justify making it a two-parter, b) I wanted this out of the way as quickly as possible and c) because I just couldn't really make it get to a good stopping point until the end.**

**Also, special mention goes to the first five people who catch every reference to a different manga/book/film/game/whatever in this chapter.**


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